14411: Diageo Demands Divertsity From White Ad Agencies.

Advertising Age reported Diageo is demanding divertsity, pressuring its White advertising agencies to reveal gender figures. That’s right, the client wants to see exactly how White women are faring in the field. As for racial and ethnic minorities, well, keep walking. Sorry, but when it comes to true diversity, Diageo talks the talk, then walks away.

Diageo to agencies: We want your gender diversity stats

The marketing industry needs to make ‘faster progress,’ says CMO

By E.J. Schultz

Liquor giant Diageo is putting more heat on its agencies to share gender equality information after a similar effort earlier this year was met with a mixed response.

Global Chief Marketing Officer Syl Saller recently sent letters to Diageo’s agencies asking for details like the percentage of women on their leadership teams, information on their gender pay gap, and how they plan to address any gender imbalances.

“Despite all of our collective efforts as an industry, the pace of substantive change has been too slow in how women are portrayed in content, how qualified women are represented at a senior level in creative development and how women are selected to be creative directors on content,” Saller stated in the letter, according to an excerpt shared by a Diageo spokeswoman. “We need to make faster progress and the time for action is now.”

Diageo’s shops include 72andSunny (Smirnoff); Anomaly (Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal); AMV BBDO (Guinness); VMLY&R (Baileys); and Carat, which handles media.

Diageo began asking for gender diversity information earlier this year, Gráinne Wafer, global brand director for Baileys, said in July during an appearance at the Diversity in Marketing & Advertising Summit in London. But Wafer said when she started seeking the information she was “met with some blank faces,” according to coverage of the summit by The Drum.

“Some people are able to say ‘I know exactly what it is, here’s ours.’ Or ‘we’re not there yet but we have a plan’. That’s all I want to hear. That you have a plan,” she said, without naming specific agencies, according to The Drum.

Saller’s letter appears to be a way to put more pressure on the agencies to cooperate. While the letter sends a strong message, Diageo at this point has not laid out any specific targets or outlined consequences for shops that are not living up to gender diversity expectations, the company confirmed.

Beth Wade, global chief marketing officer at VMLY&R, said in an emailed statement to Ad Age: “Like Diageo, we strongly believe diversity enables better creative and more effective work. We have received the recent letter from Diageo and will be submitting our response.” She pointed to diversity efforts the agency participates in, including 3% Certification and Free the Bid, which is pushing for more female ad directors.

Wade added: “As part of the Baileys global digital agency-of-record selection process earlier this year, we showcased these diversity efforts to the team. We look forward to working with Diageo on their efforts to achieve gender balance and diversity in advertising.”

Anomaly and 72andSunny, two of Diageo’s largest creative agencies, declined to comment directly on the Diageo letter. 72andSunny publishes its gender diversity stats on its website. It shows that 20 percent of the agency’s creative directors globally are women, while 45 percent of employees at group director level and above are females. Carat declined comment.

Diageo has among the best track records for gender diversity in the alcohol industry. Women comprise 40 percent of its executive committee, while 45 percent of Diageo’s senior global marketing leaders are women. Earlier this year Diageo joined the Free the Bid organization, pledging to call on its ad agencies and content producers to include at least one female director on all creative bids. Also, Diageo recently developed a framework that it will use to improve gender portrayal in its marketing.

Diageo drew headlines in February when it put a woman on the face of Johnnie Walker bottles, calling her “Jane Walker,” as part of a limited-edition run timed with Women’s History Month.

13872: Johnnie Walker Fail.

Adweek spotlighted more patronizing and pathetic propaganda for Johnnie Walker from Anomaly. The latest faux patriotic bullshit features an immigrant passing his citizenship interview by answering a basic history question that stumps his buddies, who are presumably U.S. citizens. Not sure what the intended message is here. But it’s a safe bet the immigrant would land a job at Anomaly before any U.S. citizens of color.

Johnnie Walker’s New Spot Toasts Immigrants and Their Grueling Path Toward Citizenship

Latest ad in the ‘Keep Walking America’ campaign

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

Can the average U.S.-born citizen name one of the writers of the Federalist Papers? Can he or she remember which territory America purchased from France in 1803? (The answers are at the end.)

The latest installment of Johnnie Walker’s “Keep Walking America” campaign follows a young immigrant’s path to American citizenship. In the ad, “Citizenship,” created by MDC Partners’ Anomaly, a man celebrates with friends at a bar after passing his citizenship interview.

As part of the interview, a government worker can ask up to 10 questions from the naturalization test of 100 historical and government-related questions. Some viewers may have to suspend their disbelief as none of the man’s friends, who the ad implies are U.S.-born citizens, knows who wrote the Declaration of Independence. But the spot delicately sheds light on the immense amount of time, effort and sacrifice people endure to gain U.S. citizenship.

The citizenship interview is the last major step immigrants face in the grueling road to citizenship after completing the hefty Form N-400 application and passing rigorous background checks.

To support the “Keep Walking America” campaign, Johnnie Walker also partnered with actor Wilmer Valderrama, who surprised hundreds of new American citizens outside two naturalization ceremonies in Los Angeles last week to hear about their journeys.

“Being an immigrant is a blessing and your biggest asset,” Valderrama said in a statement. “Immigrants are the core of this country, and I’m honored to help share their stories with the world.”

(The answers from above are James Madison, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton—or their shared pseudonym “Publius”—and the Louisiana Territory, respectively.)

13513: Johnnie Walker’s Political March.

Campaign reported on patronizing political pap for Johnnie Walker—created by White advertising agency Anomaly—that celebrates U.S. diversity with a contemporary spin on the classic tune “This Land is Your Land.” Based on the predominately White people section at Anomaly’s website, minorities should realize this adland is not your adland.

12320: Johnnie Walker Runs Away.

Adweek reported Johnnie Walker walked away from a 15-year relationship with Bartle Bogle Hegarty and settled on Anomaly as its new White advertising agency. Then again, Anomaly insists it’s not an advertising agency. Okay, but the place is predominately White. Plus, the stuff produced by the firm looks, feels, tastes, sounds and smells like the same old shit that spews from the butthole of a typical ad agency—and in Anomaly’s case, a mediocre one to boot. For the non-ad agency to win a shootout involving BBH, BBDO, Ogilvy and Wieden + Kennedy hardly indicates that Anomaly rocks; rather, the scenario underscores how the industry has become a landfill of generic shops where big ideas are routinely trumped by cronyism and Corporate Cultural Collusion. Hey, Anomaly resembles a White advertising agency more and more every day.

After 15 Years With BBH, Johnnie Walker Picks a New Agency

Anomaly wins Diageo’s global marquee brand

By Noreen O’Leary

Diageo has awarded Johnnie Walker, its global marquee creative account, to Anomaly after a pitch that included 15-year incumbent Bartle Bogle Hegarty as well as BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and Wieden + Kennedy.

Agencies met this week with the client in Amsterdam for final meetings on the Scotch brand, which spent $40 million in measured media in 2013.

The review initially came as a surprise to some industry observers who saw BBH’s “Keep Walking” strategy as one of the best in spirits marketing. When the campaign broke in 2000, brand sales represented 13 percent of the global market; at the end of 2013, that figure exceeded 20 percent, according to IWSR.

The decision follows the launch of Johnnie Walker’s new BBH spot, “The Next Step,” using a year-end scenario that looks forward, rather than back, with a man walking through a dreamlike vision of 2015.

Nonetheless, the brand decided it was time to move on and determined the best way forward was with Anomaly.

“We were hugely impressed by the far-reaching creative vision which Anomaly proposed for our brand and with the strategic thinking that lies behind its development,” Guy Escolme, Johnnie Walker global brand director said in a statement.